Mina I agree with virtually everything you've said.

The only thing is that your song wouldn't go through despite not being liked, as that would not be the song that got to the final. It would be the song for the next contest.

Sorry, I seem to have duplicated what jw said, but I wrote mine before I read his,

I don't believe I said people sent shit, I believe I said it was possible they did not put as much effort into choosing their next song as they might have done. However, I am willing to stand corrected on that one.

Which I guess goes to show people can choose to submit "shit" songs whether they're in the final or semi. (And for your information I had your song nowhere near the toilet, so I am merely using your description.)

I wasn't there when the discussion was going last night. I didn't know you said something about that.
I can only speak for myself, but I truly loved 'To Kalokairi Mou' (my 22nd place). Whether I would've been in the semi or not, that would have been my entry. I probably would've failed in the semi though

Sorry Nick, I didn't discuss anything either. I thought you were referring to the point I made in my initial post in this thread.

Nope, but it's ok ofc. Sorry for making it look like I was

I understand that you defend the proposal as it was your idea, but you avoid some other arguments I wrote.
Actually I don't get it. The same people being auto-qualified everytime. I agree that it might not be pleasant for some people, but should I be punished for getting a good result? Should Julio be punished or who else you meant. Should people be rewarded because they have sent a song only a few people liked?
I don't see why rules should be changed to please people who take the contest too seriously. Again: It must stay for fun. And i don't say people who take it too serious should be excluded (thats laying words in my mouth), but they shouldnt been taken as the mainstream player and there shouldnt be created rules because they might feel bad about the result. (I don't point anyone in this, it's in general)

You're right. I would feel bad that I would go through to the (next) final even though my (last) song hadn't been liked.

But the autoqualifiers are supposed to exist as a welldone to those who did well. The no hard feelings thing is implied since the person who got the toilet has a chance to do better in the next contest anyway. It's not like if you get the toilet, you're excluded from the next contest.

Just my two cents here. The idea of giving the toilet auto-qualification as a consolation prize, aside from being rather patronizing, kind of defeats the spirit of the contest in my opinion. I really don't think we should have to walk on eggshells around those who can't hack finishing badly in the contest, and I'm saying this as somebody with a spectacularly bad track record.

I have casted my vote to the forth option.
I didn't agree with it at first and I am still not that found of it, but for the fun of the contest I believe it is the right thing to do.

Toilet auto-qualification!? If I was toilet and therefore could proceed directly to the final next time, is something that I definitely wouldn't be proud of

I have spoken with JW about this. I can see the pros and cons of the choices given. The only choice I am dead set against, is Option 1. I think it only makes sense to have that many songs autoqualify if our semifinal had several more entries in it. For that reason, I support having fewer songs auto qualify to the final. In an ideal situation, we would have everyone in the final every edition. However, we have surpassed that number by a few.

As the person with the most toilet awards of anyone on the site, I think I can speak from experience about the frustration of not qualifying to the final. However, I do understand what others have spoken here, about the toilet of a semifinal automatically qualifying to the final of the next edition. While I do think that it would be a nice gesture of the auto-qualification to the final of the next edition, I think some may boycott that entry, simply because of the gesture it received. So far now, I am against allowing the toliet of the semi-final of one edition autoqualifying to the final of the subsequent edition.